Disease
by DARWIN51
Summary: It started with a cough. Pretty soon you're trapped in an airtight room, trying to fight off this gruesome, undocumented disease, where anything could happen, and it all started with that cough...
1. Prologue

**Just a little side thing that's been in my head for a while, and I'm working on 8 other stories right now, so I may take a while to update.**

**Extended Summary: It started with a cough. Then shortness of breath, infection of the respiratory system. The disease attacks your nervous system next: dizziness, rapid blinking. That's when you become contagious. The disease moves in a pattern, attacking each body system, leaving it weakened until it reaches the circulatory system. Before that, it will spread to any part of the body to begin the takeover. Whatever it gets to has to be removed or it will get to the circulatory system in a matter of days. But even then, it's still not gone…**

**Cameron and Wilson catch the disease, they must be quarantined in an operation room, with only simple supplies to survive.**

**CHAPTER1-how it all began**

"It doesn't matter what the patient thinks, if he refuses treatment, knock him out and-"  
>COUGH COUGH<br>House was interrupted by Cameron's cough. "Would you stop that! I haven't gotten in one sentence this whole meeting!" House raged, talking over another cough.

"Sorry, I must've come down with something."

"Well whatever it is, take it back to the ER, don't get me sick." He told her.

"Umm… I'm gonna stay…" Cameron insisted, trying to not reveal why.

"Why? You don't work for me anymore. Cuddy sent you to spy on me didn't she? She wanted you to make sure I didn't do anything she wouldn't approve of." House accused.

"You caught me, now-cough-what House? I still have to be part of this case."

House stood up and walked out. "Where are you going?" Foreman asked.

"To talk to a certain little elf." House replied, limping out."

BANG

The door of Cuddy's office slams open. Cuddy looked up from her desk and put her hand on her forehead, as if just House's presence brought about a major headache.

"WHY IS CAMERON ON MY CASE?" House demanded.

"So you wouldn't do anything stupid, like you normally do."

"That's just how I run though!"

"On vicodin?"

"No, on my magical farie pixie-dust pills." House said sarcastically, taking two pills out of his bottle.

Cuddy rolled her eyes. House brought his hand to his mouth, then hesitated and added; "pooped by real unicorns." raising his eyebrows, then popped them into his mouth.

"You're an ass." She told him.

"That's why you pay me the big bucks." He said, turning to leave. "Figuratively speaking, of course." He added, turning back and scrunching his face at her, then continuing on his way.

House entered his office where the team was still sitting at the table. "Fine. Run a biopsy on his liver. Looks like we won't have to-" COUGH. House glared at Cameron and spoke the last 3 words with anger, directly at her. "-force feed him. Go get me that biopsy, you," he motioned to Cameron. "stay." He said. The team just sat there.

"Go! Mush! What are you waiting for?" He barked. The team fled the room. "What, House?" Cameron asked.

House took a couple steps closer to her. She turned to the side and coughed, then turned back to him and they were just inches apart.

"House…" she squeaked, lust in her eyes. He leaned forward until their noses were touching. "GO HOME!" HE BARKED. She didn't move for half a second, before she seemed to register what had happened. She jumped back, and wiped spit out of her eye. Her hesitation wasn't much, but enough for House to notice. Her eyes were blinking quickly, but he assumed that was because he had spit in her eye. She left the room but he know she was just going to the ER.

House marched into Wilson's room, where he was eating a sandwich. "Don't you dare-cough cough- take my sandwich." House took the sandwich. "Ugh, you too?" House said with disgust. "Me too what?" Wilson asked. "With that stupid cough. You and Cameron." House complained. "Hmm. Must be something going around." Wilson said.

"Yeah, Must be."

**Okay tell me what you think and if you want to see more from this story!**


	2. The Beginning

PANT PANT

"Why are you so out of breath?" House asked nonchalantly.

"Uh, I don't know. Why?"Cameron replied, handing House the folder she was holding. House took it.

"Biopsy found a hepatoma on liver, which explains the weight loss and abdominal pain, but not his other symptoms. His wife said he travels a lot, so he probably picked it up somewhere with mycotoxin, aflatoxin.

"So we've cured B, but not A, which we didn't even know existed, we thought there was only A." House said metaphorically.

"Uhh…sure."

"Great. Round up the team." He instructed as he started to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"Out for lunch" He replied with a smirk

~HouseMD~

House headed to Wilson's room for the second time. He stole Wilson's sandwich. Wilson didn't react. "What?" House asked.

"What?" Wilson said back.

"Well you're supposed to say something along the lines of 'House get your own damn food'" House told him.

"I'm not hungry." Wilson replied.

House put down the sandwich slowly, worried about his own health. Wilson started coughing, and House made no snarky comment this time. Wilson's coughing became more violent, and he doubled over.

"Wilson?"

Wilson fell out of his chair to the floor, his coughs sounding wheezing like. Then came the blood. Wilson spewed it all over the carpet, then turning his head, the bookshelf, splattering a picture of when he was a kid. "Oh shit." House muttered, then limped out to the hall and shouted for a nurse.

~HouseMD~

BEEP BEEP BEEP

"He's stable, and coming to." An unknown voice said.

House peered into Wilson's line of vision. "What's going on House?"

"You're sick. Whatever it is, it's no big deal. I'll round up the team and figure it out, but whatever it is, Cameron's got it too. We're thinking it's a respiratory neoplasm, but x-rays show nothing abnormal, and you fit all the symptoms of a pleural effusion.

"Great." Wilson murmured.

"Well, either way, Cameron's been improving without treatment, and you're already improving, so you should be good to go. She's already up and walking around"

"Is that safe?"

"You work in a freaking hospital. You'll be fine."

~HouseMD~

The next few days went by without incident, until a surprise visit to the ER.

A homeless man was found in an alley on South street, wrapped in blankets, with his skin turning purple. He was immediately rushed to the OR as his blood pressure began to drop dramatically, even giving him blood wasn't doing much.

House, Wilson, Chase, Foreman, and Cameron were called in to try and diagnose the problem, Wilson as an extra surgical hand.

The man coughed blood all over everyone and he was screaming gibberish at them. "Can't we knock him out?" Wilson cried over the screaming. "His blood pressure's low enough as it is, if we knock him out, he'll die!" Foreman shouted back.

The team was trying to figure out what was causing his skin to turn purple. "Give me some analgesic." Cameron instructed.  
>Chase handed her a needle, and as she reached over, the sleeve of her surgical uniform rode up on her arm, and revealed purplish looking skin on her wrist. The same kind of purplish that was on the man's abdomen. Chase immediately stepped away from her. "Oh my god…Cameron's got it too!" Everyone looked to Cameron, who pulled up her sleeve even further, revealing purplish skin halfway up to her elbow.<p>

House thought things through quickly. If this guy has the same symptoms as Cameron, and Wilson had the same as Cameron, that means Cameron and Wilson have it, along with this guy, since they have never seen this guy before and they have nothing in common, that means this is…

"Airborne" House declared.

Everyone put their masks back over their mouths, starting to back towards the door.

"Stay back." House told Wilson and Cameron. "What? Why?" "Whatever is killing this man, you're infected too."

Everyone else escaped through the OR door, and locked the doors tight behind them.

Panic set in. "No! No let us out!" Cameron shouted, banging on the door. Wilson grabbed her elbow and held her back, she knew she couldn't and shouldn't get out. They were trapped until they figured out what this was.

A beeping slowly started in the background, interrupting their thoughts. The patient was dead. Cameron dropped to her knees next to the door.

"Put us in lockdown." House instructed, as the beeping drowned out everything else.


	3. New Ideas

**A/N Sorry about the short chapter, next one up soon, I promise.**

_Tap Tap Tap…Squeak_

_Tap Tap Tap…Squeak_

Wilson paced the tiny room, turning every three steps. Two days ago, Cameron and Wilson had been closed up in this death trap operation room with a dead hobo. A dead hobo carrying a terrifying new disease. A disease they had. So far all they knew about the disease was the early symptoms and that it was deadly.

Two days.

Forty-eight hours.

Two thousand eight-hundred and eighty minutes.

Felt like a lifetime.

Cameron was slumped in one corner, right leg tight against her chest, left leg straight out. It was almost completely purple.

_Tap Tap Tap…Squeak_

A light bulb went out.

_Tap Tap Tap-_ "Will you stop that!" Cameron burst out in frustration.

"Sorry." Wilson sat down on the floor.

"Look alive, guys!" House yelled through the intercom, leaning on the button with his cane. Him and Cuddy had just arrived. "Except for him. Then my theory would prove correct, which is not a good thing." He said, gesturing at the dead guy. House had this joke that he thought they were zombies. It was just a joke, that had never been funny, not even the first time. This was no laughing matter. All of the surrounding areas had been evacuated and the hospital shut down. House and Cuddy were in hazmat suits until the area was determined clean of the disease. Cuddy took over talking. She looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"Look, guys. We have to do something, and soon, like today. Otherwise you guys are going to starve to death before you die from this disease."

They hadn't eaten in two days either. Anything they tried to eat just came right back up.

"The disease is spreading up her leg." Wilson said. "I was thinking…"

"Thinking what?" House demanded.

"Well, I mean, like what if this is the heart of the disease. If we just…disconnect it, maybe she has a fighting chance."

"Disconnect?" Cameron asked.

"Look. The flesh is purple and brown and red, all up her leg, but the veins are still blue, like normal," He pointed along the visible veins along her foot and back of her knee. "-Which means it's not in the bloodstream yet. It ends right here." He said, making an imaginary line on her upper thigh.

"What are you suggesting?" Cuddy asked.

"I'm suggesting we amputate."


	4. Procedure

**Sorry 'bout the wait. Here's the chapter lineup:**

**1 Intro**

**2 Beginning**

**3 New Ideas**

**4 Procedure**

**5 Worse**

**6 Involved**

**7 Freedom**

**So It's all planned out, it WILL happen!**

_FLICK_

Cameron squinted at the bright lights above her. She felt a jerking motion on her elbow. She tried to lift her head, but it was secured down.

"Shh, go back to sleep. We're gonna start soon." Wilson said. He finished tightening the straps around her wrists, elbows, shoulders, chest, head, stomach, ankles, and knees.

After an hour and a half of Cameron puking in the corner, they had determined that pain medications would not stay down either, and after injections came the unprecedented allergic reactions. House told the story of how he sawed off that woman's leg in the building collapse and she didn't have any medication. House decided to leave out the part where she died.

So the plan was to have Cameron on the table, strapped down, asleep at the start of the procedure. Wilson would use the first of three tools, which looked like a tool used in clay sculpting. Two handles attached by a flexible, sharp wire would slice the flesh. Next, the muscle knife. Okay, it was just a knife, but they didn't have much. Last, the bone saw. Cameron would awaken likely at the very first touch of the first tool, but she would have to bear through it. That's what the straps were for.

Wilson wasn't trained to use the bone saw. House told him how to use it over the intercom, and explained the different settings. It couldn't be that hard, after all, it was just like any saw.

Cameron was asleep again soon, wearing a light blue button-down shirt with no pants, but the shirt covered what needed to be covered. Unfortunately, Wilson had to move the shirt up to get at their targeted goal of where they were going to cut. He gently lifted the shirt out of the way, frowned at House's horny expression, then pulled out a sharpie and drew around where he was going to cut. He gave one last nod to House and Cuddy, then picked up the first tool. He wrapped the sharp wire around her thigh, then pulled as hard as he could. Blood sprang out and Cameron awoke, but he kept pulling, rotating the tool to get through all the tender flesh on all sides. He tossed the tool to the side after struggling to remove it from where it was buried in her flesh. She made no sound, but clenched her fists and her face scrunched up. Wilson took the second tool and quickly sorted his way through the bloody mess until her found where he had been working. He dug the knife in quickly and cut. Cameron opened her mouth in a silent scream and lifted her head off the table, straining against the straps. She gave up and let her head drop back down. Her hands were bleeding from where she clenched her fists so hard her fingernails cut her palm. Wilson finished off and picked up the bone saw. Without any hesitation, he cut deep into her thigh. She screamed a horrible sound and her back arched for about five seconds, then she went limp and passed out. The noise the bone made was sickening, a high pitched screaming of defiance. Finally, Wilson finished and he took a sheet and pressed it hard to her open wound. He shoved her detached leg aside, the wrapped it in another sheet and tossed it over near the dead man in the corner.

He held the sheet tight to her stub of a left leg all night and into the morning. He replaced the drenched sheet and taped another one down firmly. He gently removed her straps then took her pulse.

"She's barely hanging on, house. There's nothing else I can do right now."

"Right." House said. For once he didn't have a smart-ass remark.


	5. Worse

Chapter 5: Worse

"Get it off! Off! Ahhh!" Cameron's screams awoke Wilson around 3a.m. 5 days after her procedure. Wilson jumped in shock, and ran to Cameron's side. This was the first time she had woken up so far.

Doctors were constantly in the observing room. One of them dialed House's number to inform him that Cameron was awake.

"Get what off? Doctor Cameron, calm down!" Wilson shouted, all but calm.

"The straps! Get the straps off!"

"They're not on!" Wilson replied. Cameron looked around then flopped back on the bed. "Oh." She said.

Concerned, Wilson went over and took her temperature. "102," He read aloud. "That's up from yesterday."

The doctors in the room wrote furiously on their clipboards. Wilson wanted to punch them. _It's all about keeping record, isn't it?_ He thought. _Cameron's dying and they just want to secure their spot in the history books._ But deep down he knew there was nothing they could do and they were just doing their jobs.

Wilson gently brushed Cameron's hair away from her eyes. "You're awake. How do you feel?"

"Like shit. Steaming shit that's been thrown into spinning blades."

"…Wonderful." Wilson made a face. "Well, I guess that makes sense. You have a fever, and I cut your leg off. Do you remember?" He asked.

"Unfortunately, yeah." She replied.

"Well, that's a little good at least. I mean, you remember, so that's good."

"Yeah…" Cameron trailed off. "So what happens now?"

"We wait. You're running a fever of 102, and it's been getting worse. If it continues, we're going to have to get out the cooling blankets. Which…we don't have." Wilson realized mid-sentence.

Cameron looked down at her leg for the first time. Or…where her leg had been. She sighed. "It really happened. I really don't have and never again will have a left leg."

"Well, there are prosthetics…"

"It's not the same." Cameron protested.

"Hey. This saved your life."

"_Maybe._"

"Don't talk like that!"

"Wilson, get real! What are the chances we make it out of this alive?"

Wilson spun so he wasn't facing her anymore. He ran his hand through his hair and let out a big breath. He picked up a tray and threw it at the tiled wall, watching its contents go flying in every direction before impact.

"We have a perfectly fine chance! House and his team are gonna figure out what this is, they can get help from doctors all around the world! Then they'll treat us-"

"Wilson shut up!"

He spun angrily, kicking the tray making it clatter across the floor.

Cameron flinched.

"No, Allison. YOU shut up! If you want to be negative, take it somewhere else!" Wilson realized his poor choice of words.

"Trust me! I'd _love_ to be _far_ away from you right now!"

"Children, stop fighting!" House shouted over the intercom.

They both looked up at a window they couldn't see through.

"I get woken up with good news, and I come here to find you two yelling at each other. That's not going to do anything but make things worse. I know there's a lot of tension in there, you probably can't stand each other; if I were in there, I wouldn't be able to stand myself! Just bear with me here." It was probably one of the smartest things House had ever said.

"Sorry, Cam." Wilson said.

"Sorry James."

"Good job, children!"

"Shut up, House!"

Wilson carefully re-bandaged Cameron's stump. As he leaned over to tape off the last of the bandage, Cameron gasped.

"What?" Wilson asked.

She just stared at where his shirt sleeve had ridden up from reaching over.

Wilson looked down at his arm. "Oh god…"

Wilson's forearm had turned purple, and it was spreading.


	6. Involved

I've decided there will be an 8th chapter, an epilogue. Also, how awesome was that finale!

This one focuses on Chase a little more, get tissues handy, you were warned.

Chapter 6: Involved

_Thump Thump_

Wilson heard the thumping of House's tennis ball against the wall of the observation room. House had finally turned serious about things, and he spent most of his waking hours in the observation room. On top of that, Chase had almost broken into the room to get at Cameron, vowing that he would not let her go out alone, and that if she died, he wanted to die first. He was completely serious about that, Foreman found him in the locker room tearing his wrists open with a surgical knife. They decided to keep that from Cameron, but they told Wilson while she was asleep.

Sleep. It was about the only thing she could do. She slept like a cat for most of the day. They could drink water but still, food wouldn't stay down. They had been in the room for just over a week. Cuddy made daily phone calls around the world to famous doctors everywhere, trying to find out if this new disease has ever been seen before. So far, nothing.

"Hey guys!" House shouted, startling Cameron out of sleep and making Wilson jump. As much as Wilson disliked House's annoying antics, he was glad for the interruption, and actually looked forward to talking to House; anything to break the boredom.

Wilson and Cameron looked up. "You're famous!" House said.

"_What?"_

Cuddy spoke up, reading from a news article: "Word has spread across the country about the two young doctors quarantined inside an operating room after being discovered to have an unknown disease. The disease, which is now being called _Incurseitis_, Latin for 'Invasion'. Incurseitis has only 3 know victims, one of which is dead. The entire Princeton, NJ area has been evacuated, except for a select few staying to assist the victims. Early symptoms include but are not limited to: dizziness, rapid blinking, dry cough, shortness of breath, and eventually coughing up blood. The famous symptom of Incurseitis is a purple bruise-like color to the flesh. Anyone with these symptoms or anyone who has been near someone with these symptoms within the last 24 hours is urged to call 911 immediately.

The CDC and many other organizations have started funds for research towards a cure. They are currently accepting donations and volunteers with a medical background. To donate or for more information, call 800-1-624-2020." Cuddy finished reading the article and looks down a the two of them.

"House is right. You're famous." She said.

"But…why us? New diseases are discovered fairly often. What about children dying of cancer?" Wilson asked.

"I don't know. Maybe because this has the whole city evacuated, maybe because it took a victim less than a week after symptoms. I really don't know, but get this: Since this article was printed this morning, the President has started a separate fund, paying scientists and immunologists at University and Knoxville to work towards finding an antibiotic. Speaking of which, we need your blood." Cuddy said.

Foreman appeared at the box where they passed things through. He was in a hazmat suit and he put a needle and 4 vials in the box and shut the latch. Wilson put on gloves, removed the needle and vials, and took 2 vials each of his and Cameron's blood. He placed it back in the box and shut the latch tightly. Foreman carefully removed the vials, looking scared even though he was in a hazmat. "Two more in an hour." He said, before giving Wilson a sympathetic look and walking away.

Cameron scratched at her inner elbow, where she took her blood. Cuddy's phone rang. "Hello? Oh-oh my god! Yes, I'm on my way. Where? I'll be right there." She quickly hung up.

"Who was that?" House asked at the same time Cameron asked "What's going on?"

"That was Thirteen. Chase is hurt."

"What happened!" Cameron cried.

"He jumped off the railing of the second floor."

"_WHAT?"_

Cuddy waved her hand. "Tell her what's been going on." Then she left.

Wilson explained how Foreman had found Chase in the locker room. Cameron's worried expression only grew when Cuddy came back with news.

"He's okay, just a little back injury." She said.

"Where is he?" Cameron asked.

"Thirteen's taking care of him."

"Please let me talk to him!" Cameron begged.

Cuddy sighed. "Okay, let me call Thirteen." Cuddy flipped open her phone and stepped out.

Thoughts were racing through Cameron's mind. _This is all my fault, I made him feel this way. Why does he have to be such an emotional idiot!_ Then she immediately felt guilty for thinking that. Wilson sensed her worry and put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. Cuddy re-entered with Thirteen and Chase.

"He's here, Cam." Cameron straightened and almost fell off the table.

"Chase! Oh my god, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." His voice cracked.

"You are such an _idiot!_ How stupid are you to try something like that! Don't you think I'm suffering enough?" She shouted, tears in her eyes.

"You don't think _I'm _suffering, watching my best friend and girlfriend in pain, suffering, and being torn apart, and dying, and I'm expected to keep it together?"

Everyone fell dead silent. Cameron started crying.

"I'm sorry! No, I didn't mean it! Allison! Alli, please!" Chase pressed his hands against the glass. Cameron only cried harder.

Wilson spoke up "Really, Chase, how bad is it? We can't see you, so you could be lying." Wilson shot a concerned glance up at the window. Thirteen filled him in. "It really isn't that bad, he'll just have to take it easy for a little while, he mostly hurt his back." She turned to Chase "Just no heavy lifting for a few weeks."

"Guess I'll have to pee sitting down." Chase replied. Cameron sniffled and laughed, rolling her eyes. Cuddy brushed Chase's shoulder as if saying 'good job lightening the mood'.

It was the first smile seen out of both Wilson and Cameron since the day they had been trapped in the room. The last time Chase could remember seeing Cameron smile was earlier in the day that she and Wilson got quarantined. He greeted her that morning with a rose, just because he was crazy about her. Just the thought brought a tear to Chase's eye. At that moment, Chase promised himself that if he was going to commit suicide, he would wait until Cameron was dead, even if she wasn't going to die from this. He just knew that he couldn't go on living without her. But for now, he had to be strong. For Cameron.

"Don't cry, baby." He whispered. "Don't cry…" Tears began to silently fall from his eyes. He pressed his cheek to the glass, and ran a shaky hand through his hair. Thirteen rubbed his shoulder gently, and that sent him over the edge.

He completely broke down.

He slipped out into the deserted hallway, wiping his eyes on his sleeve and thinking about all the memories he had of Cameron. When he first saw her, standing in House's office, when he asked her out for the first time, so nervous he could barely speak. He remembered waking up next to her, tangled in the sheets, blond hair spilling all over the pillow. Sometimes they would take long drives around in the countryside, just because they could, talking about everything and nothing.

Chase dropped to his knees, breathing hard, trying to force back the tears he knew were coming anyways. Emotionally exhausted, he laid down right there in the middle of the floor, finally allowing himself to cry himself empty, but nothing would come.

After two hours, he finally went back into the room, and watched a sleeping Cameron, pretending her leg was just hidden under the sheets, like when they would wake up in each other's arms. Even when everyone else went to get some sleep, he stayed in a chair, hand pressed to the glass, as close as he could be to her, all night.


End file.
